When You’re Wondering ME Winged Liner at 3AM (and Reviews of the PTY Beauty No BS Eyeshadow Palette, a Fab Crease Brush for Hooded Lids, and a Drugstore Beauty Staple)

I haven’t been sleeping through the night lately, and by “lately” I mean for the past two weeks, which was approximately when Tabs started his new workout regimen where he does wind sprints up and down the stairs beginning at the witching hour, and Connor started having dreams that wake her up in the middle of the night. (Last night she woke up saying, “Mama, NO! Those are my bubbles. MY BUBBLES!”)

The routine has gone something like this: After I’ve comforted all of the little animals, I crawl back into bed and lie there for an hour or two with my gumbo stew of thoughts.

Among last night’s ponderings…

Is it possible to make a gluten-free roux for a white sauce?

If all of your teeth were pointy, could you still eat Popsicles?

When was the last time I wore winged liner?

I have a pretty good memory for makeup-related tidbits, like what lip liner I wore with Clinique Black Honey circa 1994 (it was Wet ‘n’ Wild 666, which is still around!), so to NOT remember when I wore winged liner last is a minor tragedy in my book, which is why I busted them out today with a mix of products, old and new…

($28)

Ooh, can’t say enough about this cool-toned palette with its eight neutral powder eyeshadows. Whether you’ve taken a two-year hiatus from serious blending (LIKE ME), or you’ve just started experimenting with making windshield wiper motions, these buttery powders will make your crease work look like you can blend in your sleep. The shadows combine the fineness of NARS eyeshadows with the softness and smoothness of Dior, and they feel much higher end than $28 to me.

I’m an NC42 in MAC for reference.

For my wings today, first I lined my upper lash line with a black pencil liner to sketch out the wings, and then I dipped an angled brush into the matte dark brown and layered directly on top to set the pencil and soften the color just a touch.

Dark brown eyeshadow + black pencil liner = a kinder, gentler wing

I like this layering technique of dark brown eyeshadow on top of black liner for daytime winged liner because I think it’s approachable and not as high drama as, like, a shiny, super sharp black liquid wing.

(£15.00, or about $20 US)

This is a must if you have hooded lids, or if you can’t find your crease no matter how hard you try. It’s a soft, super skinny tapered crease brush — the thinnest one I have (it’s even thinner than the epic MAC 221) — so it precisely places crease color.

See that skinny brush tip?!

Granted, you could also use a dense pencil brush, but I find that pencil brush tips deposit too much shadow, and it’s really hard to blend the edges when you’ve got a bunch of excess dark black or brown shadow hanging out on your lids. I prefer fluffy, thin brushes like LY38B because you get the same precision, but since they’re fluffy, they don’t apply as much eyeshadow, so it’s so much easier to buff out the edges.

Currently, this brush is a little hard to find in the US, but it’s on the if you’re interested.

TIP: Do your winged liner first, and then apply your crease color with the LY38B, because it’s easier to figure out where to place your crease color when you already know how far out and up your wings are going.

($3)

OK, so maybe I’m way too easily amused, but I love that moment when I take one of these pointed tips (which I soak in makeup remover first) and run it along the bottom edge of my wing to sharpen it. This is the easiest way to correct wonky wings!

Tell me your 3 a.m. thoughts, babe.

I hope they involve either winged liner, Idris Elba or, heck, a combination of both!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

When You’re Wondering ME Winged Liner at 3AM (and Reviews of the PTY Beauty No BS Eyeshadow Palette, a Fab Crease Brush for Hooded Lids, and a Drugstore Beauty Staple) / Originally published August 27th, 2018

Girl, gorgeous as always. My 3 am thought is what I’ve gotta ask you (and your friendly readers!), have you tried The Anastasia Norvina palette? Debating between that or Naked 3. I live in Maine so trying to figure out which is the most fun and wearable one since our trendy style here is just a lot of flannels. I also have UD Backtalk so I’m trying to factor that in too!

I’m also pretty sure my kitties do the zoomies or laps at 4 am because I always wake up to more toys around my bed than when I went to bed. Super fun when they’re furry and it’s dark and you step on it going to the bathroom and think you just broke your fur baby!

I haven’t tried the Norvina palette however I have worn Naked 3. I like Naked 3, but don’t reach for it nearly as much as Naked Basics (which I use even more than the original Naked). Norvina looks pretty though. The purples look fun! If anyone else can weigh in on this that would be lovely. 🙂

How many kitties do you have? And do they do the zoomies on your bed on top of your head like Tabs did last night (OMG!)?

Thanks Karen! I do love my Naked Basics, but wanted something more fun but still wearable.

I’ve got two kitties, and they don’t typically start and end laps on the bed but occasionally they drop their toys up on the bed like heyyyyy if you’re bored. The good thing about two is they play together!

Tabs is still pretty chill — the most chill cat I know! I got lucky in that way (he’s my once-in-a-lifetime cat, I already know). He’s great with humans but a thug around other kitties. For a long time I wished that he could have a cat companion but now he has a little sister and for the most part she’s kinda like a cat? LOL!

That’s a HUGE difference in size with your kitties, oh my gosh! What are their names?

I’m sorry to hear about your sleep deprivation. I have a terrible time functioning if I don’t get enough sleep. Thankfully, I only had trouble sleeping for one short period (aside from when the kids were babies) and that was about a year ago.

I make this GF gravy for our turkey dinner gatherings (the cornstarch method). Tabs would approve. Also, King Arthur is near us so the flour is available for roux. I’ve never tried it, though.

PS I personally feel you could eat popsicles with NO teeth, so pointy would be no problem. HAHA!

Have you tried the pointed q-tips that they sell in Sephora? They’re a little bit of a thinner pointier tip. Does that even make sense?? 🙂 Anyway, they are my favorites for cleaning up the wing and any mascara that gets on my lids.

I do have the Norvina palette and it is gorgeous. I honestly didn’t need it but the colors were calling to me on a personal level, ha ha!

LOVING the winged liner. Your wings are sharp enough to cut the souls of your enemies… just like they should be lol
You’re giving me beauty goals!! I will be trying to recreate this look tomorrow morning for work, and probably the rest of the week.
#karenisabossbabe

I don’t use makeup remover on a q-tip because it will remove my concealer too, and leave an ‘oily’ residue (but, whatever works). But a tip I learned is to use primer on a q-tip 🙂 Or I just use my concealer brush to sharpen my eyeshadow edge 🙂 Just thought I’d share.

Oh speaking of Q-tips. OMG you would not realize how hard it is to clean up a mess of Q-tips! Like daaaayum. My daughter found my Q-tips and dumped them out on the floor. OMG what a pain. Picking up EVERY. LAST. ONE.